quilting, baking, building, and crafting in the last frontier

Month: June 2015

Yesterday I spent some time going through some bins of fabric in order to consolidate, organize and get rid of fabrics I’m just not feelin’.

I had a big rubbermaid tote full of all kinds of things. Rug padding, home dec fabrics, sparkly mermaid fabrics, everything. At the bottom I found this bag I started YEARS ago. It’s made from the Amy Butler Blossom Bag pattern and also Amy Butler fabric because I cannot resist it.

So tonight I ironed it back into a normal shape (whoops) and assessed what needed to be done. Turns out it only needed the inside pockets sewn together! I was pumped! But as soon as I got going I remembered why it wasn’t done before. It’s just sooo many layers of thick fabric it hardly even fits under the presser foot. 😦 And I think I got frustrated with it and then thought “I’d never even have the guts to carry such a brightly-colored shoulder bag!” and put it to the side. I’m a few years older now and I’m definitely going to use this (even for just a few times, haha!).

I switched to my darning foot (has the most clearance), did the best I could, sacrificed a few needles… and it’s done!

Here’s the inside. The pockets should be spaced differently… but it was so hard to keep it together and I’ve gone through enough needles that it’s gonna have to do. One of the pockets is just open and one has a zipper. Then they divide up the main body… but I didn’t tack down the bottoms, so they just kind of flap around. It’s done enough to use and that’s 100% better than being unfinished at the bottom of a rubbermaid bin! No one sees the inside anyway. 😉

This year I joined a block-of-the-month club at a local quilt shop! I paid a flat fee and then I have to pay if I miss a month or don’t finish my block from the previous month. I figure it’ll get me to sit down at my machine at least once a month and it has! And it’s been fun! The blocks are a challenge but a fun challenge.

So… once a month I sit down with a pile of fabrics and a bunch of rulers and get cutting!

I picked the “Alaskan Wildflowers” colorway. The main fabric– those wildflowers– are in every block.

They give good cutting instructions but not enough fabric to cover even one mistake! So you have to be pretty careful.

The other thing is they use Marti Michell’s “templates,” which are numbered templates for every shape you’ll need. When I signed up they said “do you want to buy the templates? Most people buy the templates.” I said I’d try it without (after all, I find the measuring and cutting pretty fun and it would have nearly doubled the cost of the club!) and she said “you’ll probably end up buying them later.” …Which sounded like a challenge.

I haven’t bought the templates!

I won’t buy the templates!

But anyway… it’s cool if you use the templates.

I hardly ever sit at my cutting mat, but for these, I have a seat and take my time… and soon enough I had stacks that looked like this:

Another fun thing is we can swap out the fabrics they give us for other fabrics. Last month there was a fabric I just didn’t like, so I ended up switching it out. If you use it at least twice it all looks intentional, so I swapped out a dark red for this blueberry fabric.

Everything went together pretty uneventfully… we did have to “swirl” a seam, which I understood but still had to google. It makes the seam lay flatter when you have lots of layers.

And we sewed some weird shapes that I’m not used to sewing! But it turns out it’s because that big triangular white piece gets sewn on last.

Here it is! All sewn up. You can see the tiny picture they give us– theirs was red on red and mine ended up more blue on blue… and I really like it!

Here’s the progress so far. I’ve done 6 months, 6 more to go! I’ve already started planning how I want to finish it up and set the blocks. I know I want them to be on-point (diamonds instead of squares). It sure is pretty!

At the risk of over-explaining, I thought I’d start with a few thoughts about this blog.

In Alaska, newcomers are called “cheechakos” and old-timers are “sourdoughs.” I’ve been in Alaska since 2008 and finally feel like I can shed my “cheechako” label. I’m not quite sure I’ve experienced enough to call myself a Sourdough just yet but I’m getting there!

I love to quilt and one of the things I really love about it is the connection to the past. I can make quilts using the same techniques, patterns and technology that have been in use for over 100 years and generations of my family. Though I appreciate the heritage and traditional quilts, my quilts have a decidedly fresh and modern feel to them.

Recently, I started keeping a sourdough starter, which is a way of leavening bread that’s been in use for thousands of years. It lends a rhythm to my kitchen and makes really great pancakes. The bread I’m making gets an overnight rise in the fridge. The more time it takes to rise and rest, the more “sour” it becomes. So “fresh sourdough” is a bit of an oxymoron!

I hope to share some of the projects I’m working on. On any given weekend I’m building something in my shed, sketching/designing quilts or furniture, sewing or baking. I hope to share all this with you! (and also save for my own use later!)

Here are some pics of things I found on my phone that may give you some hints of what’s to come:

my recent obsession with hexies and english paper piecingThis umbrella table I made!That time I made rainbow chip frosting from scratch because they don’t sell it any morethat I’m buying my zippers in bulk nowmy beautiful bedroom wall colors!how I love to design quilts in CAD!Quilts I’ve made, quilts I am making, quilts I am going to make…the blocks I make with a block-of-the-month group at a local quilt shopThis built-in dresser and shelves I built to fill an awkward nook in my bedroomSourdough bread and other baking adventures!